Cost Model and XEL Funding

Product Rule

XEL should not gate XEL object creation in the first product version. A user can create the XEL object, import a social profile, upload media to Walrus, mint the Sui aNFT, publish the XEL page, and configure the profile before paying.

Runtime is different. Chat/inference should be disabled until the XEL object has enough funding to cover the activation threshold. The public page should ask the user to “Fund this XEL” after creation.

Default launch threshold:

required_to_activate = $5 credits or equivalent crypto funding

This is an activation buffer, not a permanence promise.

First-Pass Cost Buckets

Bucket	What it covers	Initial estimate
Sui mint and policy transactions	aNFT mint, Proof of Genesis, wallet/policy refs, package calls.	Usually cents-level; budget `$0.05-$0.25` until measured on testnet/mainnet.
Walrus public media and encrypted artifacts	Avatar, public media refs, videos, persona artifact, memory checkpoints, manifests.	Official storage pricing is `$0.023/GB/month` before app-specific overhead and gas.
Social import and media processing	GEN scan/import, video download, profile metadata, transcription/extraction, evidence mapping.	Provider-dependent; measure per source and duration. Budget `$0.25-$2.00` for early MVP profiles until metered.
Persona synthesis	GEN transforms prompt/files/social evidence into encrypted runtime persona artifact.	Provider-dependent; measure by tokens and media minutes. Budget `$0.10-$1.00` for MVP.
Runtime/inference	Decentralized chat provider calls, x402 settlement, relay/orchestration.	Chutes live default `Qwen/Qwen3-32B-TEE` is currently `$0.104` input / `$0.416` output per 1M tokens before x402/facilitator overhead. Keep a conservative UI budget of `$0.005-$0.05` per response until real receipts are reconciled.
XEL hosting/indexing	XEL profile page, discovery metadata, settings UX, status polling.	Low fixed platform cost; do not charge separately in MVP.

Launch Recommendation

Use $5 as the first activation threshold because it comfortably covers:

mint and setup overhead
Walrus storage for normal profile assets
initial persona/import processing subsidy
a small runtime buffer for first chat interactions

Do not promise that $5 keeps the XEL object alive forever. The UI should say how much runway remains.

The permanence model is separate from this activation buffer. Long-lived characters should be funded with a stablecoin endowment whose survival path is held in a stable denomination, not a volatile token, and whose yield venue can withdraw quickly enough to renew storage before its deadline. The current whitepaper sizes permanence from realized net-of-fee yield and current storage price, then recomputes that requirement every cycle.

Runway Formula

For the first implementation:

available_runtime_balance = sum(reconciled funding balances allocated to runtime/storage)
daily_burn_estimate = storage_daily_estimate + hosting_daily_estimate + baseline_inference_daily_estimate
runway_seconds = floor((available_runtime_balance / daily_burn_estimate) * 86400)

Default demo values:

required_to_activate = $5.00
estimated_daily_cost = $0.35
unfunded_runway = 0 seconds
$5 funded runway ~= 14 days, 6 hours

The default $0.35/day is intentionally conservative for the demo. It assumes the XEL object is available for chat and may receive light interaction. Storage-only XEL objects should last much longer; active XEL objects with many chats can burn faster.

Page Behavior

Unfunded XEL:

profile is published
media and proof links are visible according to privacy settings
chat CTA routes to the funding section
chat input is disabled
page says “Chat is disabled until this XEL is funded”
page shows current funds, activation minimum, estimated daily burn, and deposit wallets

Funded XEL:

chat is enabled according to interaction policy
page says “This XEL will expire in X days, Y hours” unless more funds are added
countdown is recomputed after wallet-ledger or chain-balance reconciliation

Expired or underfunded XEL:

profile remains visible according to privacy settings
chat is disabled
storage renewal warnings should become prominent before media or encrypted artifacts are at risk
if core storage approaches its renewal margin, the page should make survival funding more prominent than interaction funding

Measurement Required Before Mainnet Pricing

Before charging users beyond the MVP credit buffer, measure:

exact Sui gas for mint + policy setup on testnet and mainnet
Walrus cost per imported profile with real video counts and file sizes
GEN import/transcription/persona synthesis cost by profile source
Chutes SN64 end-to-end request cost after x402 proxy/facilitator overhead
Verathos SN96 fallback request cost
storage renewal cadence and warning thresholds
renewal chunk sizing, renewal runway margin, and actual WAL/SUI swap plus gas sponsorship cost
average chat turns per active XEL object per day

These measured values should replace the demo constants in fundingStatus.